In some computing environments, system size and power consumption are key design constraints. For example, in mobile systems such as laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones and other wireless mobile devices, the physical space and power available for computing resources is relatively limited. In these systems, power is generally limited to available battery capacity and size is generally limited by consumer tastes.
Despite environmental constraints, the market demand for increased functionality has consistently challenged the limits of mobile computing technology. Users seemingly have an insatiable desire for new and enhanced features on their mobile devices. Examples of enhanced mobile features include cameras, both video and still, video players, music players, email, texting, web browsing, games and the like. All of these features can be integrated into a single mobile device with wireless phone and data services. Some of these features, particularly advanced 3-D gaming and other graphics applications, are computationally and memory intensive. To support such demanding applications on resource limited platforms, it is desirable to have a relatively small computing unit that is capable of providing the necessary performance at reduced levels of power consumption.